1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications and, more particularly, to a method and system for processing communications based on physical presence of users.
2. Description of Related Art
In a telecommunications network, a communications destined for a particular user can be routed to an endpoint device with which the user is currently registered. For instance, according to the industry standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), each user has a SIP address (which is like an e-mail address; it is a personal identifier of the user). When the user registers with a given SIP client, the SIP client sends a register message up to a SIP server, which records in a registry an association between the user and the SIP client. At any given moment a user (SIP address) can be associated with any number of SIP clients.
When a request comes in to set up a communication session with the SIP user, a SIP INVITE is sent to the SIP server, and the SIP server may refer to the registry, to find out which SIP client(s) the user is currently associated with, i.e., what the network address (or network address identifier (NAI)) is of each SIP client with which the user is currently registered. The SIP server then forwards the SIP INVITE to each such SIP client, requesting to set up the session with the user.
It is known to establish, for a given SIP-user, SIP preferences for various SIP clients. For instance, each SIP client can be given a particular priority level for ring order, so that the SIP server rings them in order. Alternatively, if they all have the same priority level, the SIP server would ring them all at once. Further, a SIP user can have other preference logic, such as to send calls to a particular SIP client at particular times and to another SIP client at other times.
As another example, in instant messaging (IM) systems, each user similarly has a username. When the user logs into an IM system from a given client station (e.g., personal computer), the client station sends up to an IM server a register message, and the IM server then records in an IM registry an association between the user and the client station (e.g., a network address of the client station).
In turn, when another user logs into the IM system and lists the registered user on a “buddy” list, the IM system might send to the other user's station an indication that the registered user is available to receive instant messages. The other user may then send into the network a message destined for the registered user, and the IM server may facilitate sending the message to the client station associated with the registered user.